UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Center of Geriatric Nursing Excellence (CGNE), in collaboration with the College of Nursing’s Office of Outreach and Professional Development, are co-sponsors for this year’s annual Geriatric Interest Network (GIN) Conference. The conference is being held virtually over the course of four consecutive Wednesdays, from 12:15 to 2:30 p.m. each day, throughout June. This year’s conference topic is “Dialogues to Understanding Dementia.”
Speakers and their presentations for the event include:
June 9: "Legal Conversations" by Jenna Franks, lawyer; and Kristen Daugherty, National Council of Certified Dementia Practitioners, certified Medicaid/long-term care planner – Steinbacher, Goodall & Yurchak
June 16: "Improving Dementia Care Across the Care Continuum" by Dr. Nicole Osevala, Fellow of American College of Physicians – Penn State College of Medicine
June 23: "Components of Care" by Elizabeth Plozner-Chalfa, executive director, National Council of Certified Dementia Practitioners – Juniper Village at Brookline, Senior Care
June 30: "Communicating with Persons Living with Dementia" by Michael Keil, clinical psychologist – Centre Psychology
Attendees will be exposed to a variety of objectives ranging from the necessary aspects of financial planning for the final stages of life, age-friendly care and health systems, bias and stigma experienced by some persons with dementia, and finally, the various types of dementia and their characteristics and stages, as well as resources for living with dementia.
Admittance to all four sessions of the conference costs a total of $40 for a GIN member and $80 for any non-GIN member, with continuing education units (CEUs) for various healthcare disciplines pending.
Registered Nurses may be eligible to receive up to eight contact hours of continuing education available through the Penn State College of Nursing Office of Professional Development and Outreach, as they are an approved provider of nursing continuing professional development by the Pennsylvania State Nurses Association, an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation. Interested attorneys can earn PA CLE credits provided by Estate and Long-Term Care Planning Inc, a certified provider.
Janice Whitaker, CGNE Administrator and GIN Board of Directors member, stated “It is a privilege to work with other community leaders that seek to improve care and quality of life for older adults and provide this outstanding educational opportunity to others that share this same vision.”
Key collaborators include Brenda Kim from Juniper Village at Brookline, Sandy Schuckers from the Centre County Office on Aging, Amy Lorek from the Center for Healthy Aging, Meg Clouser from Foxdale Village, Holly Reigh from A Ray of Care, and many others.
GIN of Centre County comprises a group of individuals who realize the need for networking to enhance the sharing of information and collaborating of services to help the senior community in Centre County. Through regular education and networking meetings, GIN strives to meet the basic goals of education, advocacy and networking.
Registration is available online at www.centrecountygin.com or contact Sandy Schuckers at the Centre County Office of Aging at ssschuckers@centrecountypa.gov.
Learn more about Penn State’s Center of Geriatric Nursing Excellence.